Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Collector

Absent an audience, a stage
actor can’t truly bring her performance to fruition.Not so for the visual artist whose
self-contained work can be both complete and achieve greatness.That’s the theory of course, because if they
are to be heard, most artists do need an audience.The collector plays a special role here, one
that dates back to early times.Some collectors
simply accumulate long finished work but some become patrons purchasing and
sometimes commissioning new creations directly from the artist.Beyond the “applause” most of us need, collector-patrons
often provide the material sustenance that enables the artist to go on.

Collectors may hold on to
their treasure trove, but many donate or bequeath works to museums.Hardly a museum exists anywhere in the world
that isn’t built around, or strengthened by, works amassed by
collectors.In that sense, they haven’t
only been collecting for themselves, but also for us.The Nasher Museum at Duke University is named
for such collectors and its newly opened exhibit, Time Capsule, celebrates the collecting of another, if not
collecting itself.

Jason Rubell got his
collecting start at age 13 with a bar mitzvah gift from family friend and onetime
street artist Keith Haring.Jason was on
his way and never stopped.By his senior
year at Duke, he had accumulated enough works to mount a credible exhibition,
his senior project.Shown in 1991 at
Duke’s then museum, it traveled on to ten other universities.Today, Jason Rubell collects with his family
and together they have amassed one of the world’s great private art
collections, much of it exhibited at the Miami’s Rubell Family Collection.Recently
Jason’s debut exhibition was reprised there.It has now returned to Duke where it started, filling two gallery rooms with
works by the likes of Eric Fischl, Jeff Koons, Bruce Nauman, Gerhard Richter
and Cindy Sherman.

It’s appropriate to start
at the beginning: Keith Haring’s vibrant untitled work that Rubell describes as a
“transition” between his subway and later works.Haring’s self-described mission was to communicate
“immediately and clearly,” and this smallish piece incorporates some of the
iconic line drawn figures that became a trademark.The narrow paint strokes of blue, yellow and green
contrast from what is essentially a black on red acrylic that echoes the chalk
drawings with which he launched his relatively brief career.

German artist Katarina
Fritsch’s five small objects (exhibited in a box) are the product of her dreams
combined with the reality of what they depict.She calls it translating the perfect objects in her mind into an
imperfect world.In fact, each is
painstakingly crafted--prototypes of multiples that will never be duplicated.

Another
German, photographer Andreas Gursky, is represented by Ratingen Schwimmbad
(swimming pool).Capturing a large pool
and surrounding greens, the photo is taken from a great distance.The result is an image of miniaturized
figures in and out of the water.They
look almost more drawn than captured by camera.While totally different in tone and content (and far less crowded), it
brings to mind Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden
of Earthly Delights, a canvas so chocked full with individual figures that
one is bound to discover something new at every viewing.

Images from the collection of
Jason Rubell are at the courtesy of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

8 comments:

I have never fully understood why Gursky is considered such a great photographer. For me, it is not obvious. I like some of his photographs though, but not the one mentioned here. If no one would tell me he is a great photographer, I would not be able to pay attention to many of his pictures. But his influence is obvious and undeniable towards other photographers.

A Stirring Introduction

Like bouillon, art is a source of flavoring, extracted from ideas and experience, which makes life more nourishing and palatable. The cubes cooked up here are served to spread awareness about savory exhibitions, gratifying museums, and piquant personalities in the world of art. Artbouillon is the concoction of Rachel Bernstein, a mixed media artist based in New York, and Jesse Prinz, a philosopher, cognitive scientist, and aesthetician.